ANAHEIM, Calif. -- For soooo long, mid-September to the New York Yankees meant booking playoff hotels, deciding which brand of champagne to order and making sure skipper Joe Torre had enough tea on hand.

Robinson Cano has had his problems in the field this season. (Getty Images)

As opposed to, say, the Tampa Bay-Boston contest, or any number of other games on the MLB Extra Innings package with playoff ramifications.

Doh!

Though it will be a cold December's day in the Bronx before manager Joe Girardi admits the Yankees are toast, there's a definite burning smell right now in Hank Steinbrenner's kitchen. Alex Rodriguez unwittingly admitted it earlier in the week, when Toronto seized third place from the Yankees.

It was a choice moment: Asked what he thought of his club dropping into fourth place, A-Rod talked up the Blue Jays, saying, "I'll tell you what. A lot of people should be happy they're not in the playoff race, because they'd be the scariest team."

Told that must mean that the Yankees are sunk, too, A-Rod, deer in the headlights again, said, "Wait, you're confusing me."

What should be confusing is how a team with a $209 million payroll will be free for golf and honey-do lists on Oct. 1 for the first time since 1993. Yes, there have been a string of key injuries -- Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada and Joba Chamberlain included -- and those have helped cripple them.

But even with Posada sidelined for the season, a team that was supposed to blow past 900 runs scored over 162 games ranks seventh in the AL (704 with 16 games left). Posada never has received the credit he deserves both behind the plate and offensively, but still ... seventh?

"I don't know, I think a lot of things need to be addressed," outfielder Johnny Damon said. "What went right, what went wrong, who we lose. All of those questions will be thrown around.

"It will be interesting what happens. I know there are a few big-name pitchers the whole league is going to be interested in."

The Yankees' fearlessly loquacious leader, general partner Steinbrenner, already has publicly talked about CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in an impressive display of tampering.

But even assuming Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy come back healthy and even actually contribute next season, it's not as simple as adding a couple of starting pitchers.

The Yankees have never looked older than they do right now. Yes, too many bats have slowed, but it's especially noticeable in the field. Damon and Bobby Abreu are defensive liabilities in the outfield. Jason Giambi has always been an abomination at first base. Second baseman Robinson Cano makes Alfonso Soriano look like a Gold Glover. At 34, Derek Jeter's skills are eroding.

The Yankees have in excess of $80 million coming off of their payroll following this season so, as usual, money won't be a problem. And oh, by the way, Sports Business Journal reported this week that the Yankees are on the verge of signing a new stadium naming rights deal with Bank of America that could earn them $20 million a year (or, pay Sabathia's salary alone).

Even the Yanks are immune to the economic downturn. But if they don't spend those millions more intelligently than they have since their last World Series title (2000), their decline as an October force will continue.

General manager Brian Cashman could see this coming, and the work he's started in attempting to get younger and re-stock the farm resources since gaining full control over baseball operations (in writing) in his last contract is necessary.

But the myriad questions facing this club in the offseason begin with their free-agent GM. Though Steinbrenner says he thinks Cashman will return, perhaps the biggest question facing the Yankees this (prematurely early) winter is whether, after figuring out George Steinbrenner long ago, he's tired of the New Yankee Order now that George is in no longer in the driver's seat.

He could be enticed by any number of GM jobs expected to open this winter (Seattle and Washington, to name two).

As for the roster, the Yanks almost certainly will not pick up Giambi's $22 million option for 2009 (though they could bring him back on a lesser deal to DH).

Pitchers Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano, outfielder Abreu and catcher Pudge Rodriguez all are free agents.

Pettitte's ERA is 4.52, nearly a full run above his lifetime ERA coming into the season (3.83), and he's 3-6 with a 5.43 ERA in 11 post-All Star break starts. The Yanks must decide whether Mussina can replicate his unexpectedly strong season (17-8, 3.48) in 2009. They must never make a mistake like Pavano again.

Damon, 34, admits age is diminishing the Yankees.

"We have some guys who have been around this league for awhile and are not getting any younger," he said. "We need a super-utility guy, an infielder who they're not afraid to run out to the outfield. Maybe do it that way.

"Can I play 162 games in center field anymore? No. Can I play 140? I don't know. Those are some issues that need to be addressed."

There has been talk of turning Damon into a first baseman.

There will be talk regarding whether Abreu is worth re-signing. At 34, his on-base percentage this season is .372, down from his career .408.

"Bobby's been a consistent player for a long time," Girardi says. "You can count on 150 games, he usually drives in 100 runs, scores 100, he steals bases. You know he's going to contribute every day."

There should be talk between the Yankees and Chamberlain, a conversation in which the club tells the right-hander to prepare for the rotation. And then make sure he's stretched out enough next spring to stay there.

The jury is still out on Girardi. Granted, there have been injuries and sub-par performances -- even A-Rod's offensive numbers are down -- and the responsibility for those do not necessarily all fall at the door to the manager's office.

But the fact remains that championship managers figure out the math so that the sum is greater than the whole of the parts, and Girardi hasn't come close to doing that this year.

If the Yankees hadn't dominated two of the game's worst teams, Seattle and San Diego, they'd be what they usually look like: A .500 team. Remove their 10-2 record against the Mariners and Padres, and the Yanks today would be ... 67-67.

At least it should be a bug-free October for the Yankees (no Cleveland midges!). But of all the years they could have picked to miss the postseason, this one could especially sting.

As the Yankees faced the Angels this week, roughly 130 miles to the south in San Diego, Torre was managing the Los Angeles Dodgers on the verge of winning the NL West and, with Manny Ramirez, suddenly looking like a potential World Series team.

Not only will the Yankees be home watching that, but bitter rival Boston probably will be playing in October, aiming for a third World Series title in five seasons. The October calendar also should include Tampa Bay, former AL East doormats and the site of the Yankees' Florida operations, and, gulp, possibly the Mets.

Ouch.

And that clubhouse episode of The Simpsons?

Wasn't even the one starring Darryl Strawberry, Roger Clemens and Ken Griffey Jr.

•  The Yankees on Friday open the final homestand in Yankee Stadium, a 10-gamer beginning against Tampa Bay, the White Sox and Baltimore.

•  Souvenirs, anybody? Torre has already put in his request for a couple of seats from Yankee Stadium. Girardi says he's going to ask for the same thing.

•  Torre has a stadium seat collection that threads through his career as both a player and a manager. He has two seats from Cincinnati's old Crosley Field in his garden at home. (Significance: It's where he hit his first major league homer). He also has a couple of seats from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (where he played and managed) and from St. Louis' old Busch Stadium (played and managed) in storage.

•  What the AL West champion Los Angeles Angels intend to do over the next two weeks is two things: Work toward finishing with the AL's best record so they gain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and try to remain healthy. As for whether they get the Boston Red Sox or Tampa Bay in the first round, don't expect any bulletin board stuff. "We don't have a preference," said champagne-soaked hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said, predictably, as the Angels wildly celebrated Wednesday afternoon. "All of the teams are going to be good once you get to the playoffs. We're good enough that we can beat anybody we play. We've just got to play our best games. It doesn't matter who we play."

•  Maybe not, but know this: The Angels turned things around against Boston this year, going 8-1 against the Red Sox. But they were only 3-6 against Tampa Bay -- and, most noticeably, 1-5 at Tropicana Field.

•  In their 2004 and 2007 World Series seasons, the Red Sox started their journey with a three-game, divisional series sweep over the Los Angeles Angels.

•  The Chicago White Sox are still saying they hope to get MVP candidate Carlos Quentin back for the playoffs, but following surgery and the insertion of a screw in his wrist, that remains highly problematical. Boston's David Ortiz is complaining that his wrist is still nagging him, that he still hears a "clicking" sound, and he hurt that back in May. Granted, different injury -- torn tendon sheath for Ortiz, fracture for Quentin -- but no wrist injury is insignificant for a major league hitter, given the repeated stress on the wrist with each swing. "I had him for three years, and he creates so much torque on his wrists," says Arizona third-base coach Chip Hale, who managed Quentin at Triple-A Tucson.

•  They undoubtedly don't feel as badly as the White Sox do, but the Diamondbacks, who traded Quentin to Chicago last winter, do feel terrible because Quentin was a well-liked kid in the desert. But they also aren't surprised that he would injure himself slamming his hand into his bat. "He's that way," Arizona manager Bob Melvin says. "He gets two hits, he'll grind on the two at-bats he didn't get a hit. I love him. I'm happy he's having such a big year."

•  And you want to ignore this guy in the NL Cy Young voting simply because he didn't pitch in the league for the first three months of the season? Milwaukee, since July 8, in games started by Sabathia: 12-1. The Brewers since then in games started by others: 22-22. If they appear in the playoffs for the first time since 1982, they'll do so having jumped on Sabathia's back for the ride there.

•  If Houston ever figures out how to play crisply during the first three months of the season, the Astros could be really dangerous. Their .686 winning percentage since the All-Star break is the best in baseball. Tampa Bay's .640 is next, followed by Toronto, the Angels and the Mets (all at .620).

•  Especially notable about Toronto's 10-game winning streak that ended Wednesday in Chicago: It wasn't exactly against cupcakes. Every win was against an opponent with a winning record. No wonder GM J.P. Ricciardi thinks the Jays are in pretty good shape for next year. And it's a credit to manager Cito Gaston, too.

•  Yes, with the Dodgers' recent hot streak, at least the first-place team in the NL West is up to four games over .500, at 75-71. But, these 13 teams would be in first place, ahead of the Dodgers, if they played in the NL West: Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Houston, St. Louis, Mets, Philadelphia, Angels, White Sox, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Boston, Toronto and, yes, even the Yankees.

•  At least they can laugh: Funniest moment of the week came in the San Diego clubhouse hours before the Padres were going to face ex-teammate Greg Maddux on Monday. It's typical for a club to run a loop of that night's opposing pitcher over the clubhouse televisions in the hours before the game so its hitters can study the pitcher. What isn't so typical is for a club to play an edited version which simply shows the pitcher giving up one hit after another. That's what the Padres did.

•  Not only is Arizona's bullpen, which badly misses closer Jose Valverde (the Diamondbacks' loss is Houston's gain; he's up to 42 saves for the 'Stros), killing the Diamondbacks, it also has slowed Randy Johnson's run at 300 wins. The Big Unit, who missed last Sunday's start in Dodger Stadium with a sore shoulder, has 294 career wins -- but the Diamondbacks bullpen has blown four one-run leads for Johnson this season.

•  Johnson badly wants his 300th win, which probably will cause him to pitch again for Arizona next season, when he'll be 45 on opening day.

•  Nice job by the Florida Marlins hanging around for so long before fading when they were expected to finish last (or close to it). But just when it looked like they were going to make a real move -- starters Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez returned from injuries and Chris Volstad was recalled from Double-A -- they went south because ... the batteries went low on their bats? It's true. Before the All-Star break, the Marlins led the NL with 135 homers and ranked third in both runs scored (462) and slugging percentage (.441). Since the break, the Marlins have hit only 50 homers in 49 games, scored only 221 runs.

•  Little victories: Pittsburgh this week clinched its 16th consecutive losing season, equaling the major league record set by their Pennsylvania brothers, the Philadelphia Phillies, between 1933 and 1948. During that span, the Pirates have had just one 100-loss season, while those Phillies had five. The Pirates' cumulative record during the streak is 1,097-1,407, a .438 winning percentage. The Phillies' was 888-1,545, a .365 winning percentage. Of course, two seasons after their last losing season, the Phillies went to the World Series (1950). The Pirates? Let's just say nobody's asking around for 2010 World Series tickets.

•  Matt Cassel, understudy to injured New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady? He's Houston pitcher Jack Cassel's younger brother.